Improvement in composite columns



E.. HILL. Cumpnsie Columns.

Patented Aug. 25,1874.

Ult-attenta PTRNT OFFICE.

CHARLES HILL, OF BROOKLYN, N-Rw YORK.V

IMPROVEMENT IN COMPOSITE COLUMNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 154,393, dated August Q5, 1874; application filed April 24, 1874.

To all whom it may concer/n;

Be it known that I, CHARLESA E. HILL, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and. Improved Method of Gonstructingfa Composite Column, applicable to the supporting of wharves, bridges, warehouses, arches, viaducts, monuments, and other structures having their foundations below the surface of the ground or beneath the surface of fthe water, and capable of Vresisting the force of the the waves of the sea,- currents of the tides, or of rivers.

The Object of my invention is a column or pillar consistingvof a block or blocks of stone or baked ware, and one or more bolts, bars, or rods,B, extending through the blocks, secured thereto, and serving both to bind the blocks together, whenunore than one block is used, forming a self-contained structure, and to secure the column to its foundation, all as shown in the elevations, Figures l, 2, 3, and 7, and plan views, 4 to 9, of the accompanying drawing. Y

Each bar B is slotted at a short distance from its lower end for the reception of a transverse key, b, between which and a nut, a, at the upper end of the rod, the block or blocks constituting the shaft of the column are iirmly clamped. rE he opening o vin each block for the passage of the rod B is larger in diameter than the latter, leaving an annular space around the rod for the reception of a lling or packing, t, of cement or soft metal, and the adjacent faces of the blocks may be pierced to receive dowels d, which prevent the blocks from turning on the bar when but one baris used. e

In erecting the pillar at the place where it is to be used, thefrodBis, in the first instance, secured to the foundation. If the latter is soft, 'a pointed rod, as shown in, Figs. 1 and 2, is driven downward to a sufficient depth; if the foundation is of stone, it is pierced to receive the rod B and its key b, the rod being anchored in the usual manner, as shown in Fig. 3. The rod being secured, the rst block A is brought with its opening o above thev upper end of the rod, and is lowered until it rests upon the foundation, on a level with the upper edge of the key b. The space in the block round the rod is then filled to half its depth with plastic or molten cement or packing. The Vupper face of the block A being coated with cement, a second block, A', is then lowered upon the first, the dowels d being inserted, if necessary, and the packing material t is filled in toabout one-half the height of the block A', other blocks being added in likev manner until a shaft of the desired heightis obtained, when the nut a i applied to the upper end of the rod.

By arranging the packing or cement t around the shaft, as described, the joints .fr

.thereof are intermediate with those between the blocks, so that should water by any chance penetrate the shaft, it will be efectually prevented from reaching the rod, which, while thus protected from the corroding ef'- fects of moisture, will preserve its original strength.

As the blocks are rmly clamped between the nut a and wedge b, as well as cemented to each other and to the rod, the whole will form a self-contained structure, capable of as eX- tensive and as varied uses, and, in many re s'pects, superior to the ordinaryr monolith.l

It will be apparent that the bloeks'may be quarried or cut and bound together and to the rod, as well at thequarry as at the point where the column is to be` used.

The shaft may. consist of one or more blocks, and may be of any desired sectional form, one, two, or more rods, B, being used, as shown in Figs. 5, 8, and 9, and several columns of proper form may be combined in the construction of a more extended structure, as shown in the diagram, Fig. 6.

A permanent offset or an adjustable sleeve, collar, or nut, may be substituted for the key b, and a key, collar, or other suitable device for the nut a, and the rod B may be of metal or wood, solid or tubular.

I do not desire to claim, broadly, a pier or column anchored to a 'foundation by means of a bolt passing through the said column, nor do I claim a column made self-contained and independent of the foundation by a central bolt for securing the `members of thecol; pendently of the foundation, and of anchoring umn' together but, i the column to the latter, all 'as set forth.

I claim as my invention- Brooklyn, March 31, 1874. v

A column, or other analogous per-manen CHARLES E HILL structure, consisting of stone or baked Ware,

strengthened and rendered self-contained by Witnesses:

means of a central bolt, which serves the two: S. F. HILL,

fold purpose of clamping the column inde- GEORGE E. HILL. 

